Naruto the Gunslinger
by Magus Zanin
Summary: When he was 8, Naruto was taken from the village by a man known as Rai Arashi. When he turned twelve, Rai returned him to the village. With new equipment and a new mindset, Konoha is in for the shock of their lives. Not Powerful Naruto,Naruto that thinks!
1. Chapter 1

Naruto was lying on the ground as the mob walked away. Blood flowed freely from his nose and mouth. Just lying there, not wanting to do anything. Forget going home, there is no one there to comfort me. The "stomp, stomp" of boots announced that someone was walking towards him. The only response 8 year old Naruto gave was to curl up tighter, fearing the kick he thought was coming.

"Damn……….. Well, I can't just leave him here." A male voice stated

The only response was a groan. Naruto, both his eyes swollen shut, felt himself being picked up. After that, he passed out.

Later that night, Sarutobi was sitting in his office, doing his paper work. Two sharp "cracks" came from out side the door. Those sounds were followed by two bodies crumpling to the floor. A booted foot smashed in the door. A man, about 20 years old, walked in to the Hokage's office. Wearing a red trench coat with lightning symbols on it, he walked to the front of the desk. Two more ANBU poofed in next to him, on either side. Before the smoke had cleared, the man's hands crossed, his right hand to his left hip and vice versa. Drawing his weapons, they looked like knives bent to the shape of a gun, the blade pointed forward instead of up.

The blade's split down the length, rings popping out of the two halves to form the coils of a coil gun. (AN: If you don't know what a coil gun is, look it up on Wikipedia.) Two more cracks sounded and the two ANBU fell to the floor. Sarutobi could still hear their heartbeats. "And who are you, my impolite young sir?"

"I guess you don't pay attention to your bingo book, do you, Hokage."

"You are not in it."

"Oh, but I am. Just not in the shinobi section. I'm an S-rank criminal listed in the civilian section. This is apparently beneath the notice of the almighty shinobi." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Then why have you walked into the lion's den?"

"Are you kidding? I can leave anytime I want to. I only tried to use the door out of politeness. And I only wrecked it cause those idiot ANBU would not let me in." At this he ran his fingers through his brown hair in embarrassment.

"Then, why are you here?" The Hokage would hear him out. For now.

"Cause I'm taking that blond haired kid. Or rather, have taken. Past tense. My conscience wont let me sit by and watch mobs beat on children. And before you say anything in your defense, I know that if you tried to help him any more than you have, it probably would start a civil war in this village. So I don't blame you for not doing more. However, I can't sit by and let this go on."

"Ok….. And you will return him?"

"When he can defend himself, yes."

"Do you know why he is hated?"

"No. I don't care."

"He is the container for the Kyubi no Yoko."

"So." And with a shrug and a flash of white light, he was gone.

Sarutobi reached inside his desk for the bingo book. Flipping to the civilian section, he looked for the male.

Rai Arashi. Age: Unknown. Skills: Unknown. Combat style: Prefers ranged combat using explosives and other devices. Home village: Unknown. Well, that was a lot of help.

Naruto woke up to a brightly lit room. A comfortable bed and furnished room surrounded him. He got out of bed and walked to the door. After listening at the door for a moment, he opened it and entered the hall. Picking a random direction, he walked down the hall until he saw a door on the right with a light coming from the inside. Not having anywhere else to go, he opened the door and entered.

Rai was sitting there, his coat off, his eyes closed. The room had no furniture to speak of, only a fireplace in the back. "Where am I?" Naruto asked

"My home." Came the simple answer

"Why am I here?"

"Because, for the moment, we need each other. Or, more precisely, you need some one to care and I need a companion. 20 years is a long time to be alone."

"And you don't hate me?"

"I made a choice, a long time ago, to never hate any one because of something they had no choice in."

"Why are you just sitting there?"

"I'm not. Come and sit with me and I will show you."

Deciding that he could trust this man for the moment, Naruto came and sat down next to Rai. "What is your name?" Rai asked

"Uzamaki Naruto."

"When you are able to handle your self, do you want to return to your village?"

Silence reigned as Naruto though about it.

"Don't answer now. Take some time to think."

And with that, a friend ship was born.

(AN: This should be fun. It should be noted that the only reason Rai took out the ANBU so easily was that they knew nothing about him. They expected a ninja attack and he does not use Chakra. So they were taken out easily, not knowing what to expect. I can assure you, it will not happen again. Next time, he will have to work. And how will the training affect Naruto?)


	2. Chapter 2

_**Time Skip 4 years:**_

The days past quickly for Naruto. Rai taught him to use the computers in the hide-out to learn all he could. The more he learned, the more he wanted to learn. For Rai, it was a break from the loneliness that had been eating at him ever since he lost Miaka. One night Rai showed up at the academy and Iruka was staying late. Rai appeared in his flash of white light and grabbed a dozen scrolls off the shelves. By the time Iruka ran over to him, he was gone again, the same way he came. Rai was no Ninja and could not teach Naruto. But he was sure as hell gonna try.

Graduation day: 4 years after Naruto left.

"The exams are commencing and Naruto is not here yet." Iruka thought. "Where is he?"

As if answering his question, Rai and Naruto appeared in a flash of light. Iruka really needed to know how they did that. Rai was wearing his trademark red coat, black shirt and brown cargo pants. Naruto was wearing his orange jump suit but with pockets on it that made it look like a jonin vest. A kunai pouch was strapped to his thigh and a pistol under his shoulder. Looking very much like a parent dropping his child off for the first day of school, Rai ignored the stares directed at the two as he said to Naruto, "You will do fine. Stop being a pain."

Naruto just scratched the back of his head and walked in to the class room. With class not starting for another five minuets, Rai walked over to Iruka and stated "Chakra control is still a problem for him thanks to our furry friend. But I think he will surprise you."

"I hope so. I really want him to graduate." Iruka said "If you don't mind my asking, what did you teach him?"

"To think." Was the reply as the red coated man walked in to the class. Iruka followed.

Naruto was the talk of the class. Disappearing for four years could do that to a guy.

After the exams, the class gathered in the class room for the Henge test. When it was Naruto's turn, he failed, just like all the other times. Dejected and shamed, he ran out the door and disappeared. Several hours later, Mizuki found him and convinced him to try and steal the scroll. Naruto did and brought it to the forest. Iruka tried to get it back by talking to him. Mizuki attacked Iruka and chased Naruto

As Naruto was running through the forest, Rai stepped out from behind a tree. Naruto stopped and waited for him to say something. "Mizuki is a traitor to Konoha. But you knew that. I won't lecture you or reprimand you. You know what you have done is wrong. You also know my rule about mistakes."

"I know. I don't know if I can."

"Don't give me that. I have faith in you."

Mizuki walked out of the trees. "Stupid brat can't do a simple Henge and you think that he can beat me?! You have lost your mind. Then again, facing a Shinobi without being a shinobi your self is stupid to begin with. For all the innocent people he slaughtered I swear, I will kill him."

"Now, if I recall correctly, he did kill a squirrel when he was nine. However, I don't think that qualifies as a person. Hell, it was not even some ones pet. So, how do you figure that he has so much blood on his hands?"

"He is Kyubi! He attacked the village 12 years ago!" Mizuki said, his voice becoming more deranged by the second. Naruto simply stood there, his eyes wide in shock.

"No. He is the cage that is preventing the beast from killing everything around it. He is no more that demon than I am a shinobi." With that he turned to Naruto. "You are not evil, nor are you a demon. Just like I told you when you asked me why I search day after day for twenty years for some who I was constantly fighting with, each of us is who we chose to be. Nothing more, nothing less. I choose to be devoted to my partner and I will never stop until I find her or her body. Which ever comes first. You can choose to be someone who lets every one walk over you, tell you what to think, what to feel. I think I taught you better than that, but I might be wrong."

Turning back to Mizuki. "Normally, I would kill someone for those words. Or maim them, if I'm having a good day. But the right to kick your ass has been claimed by Naruto and I would not be much of a mentor if I did it for him."

Naruto dropped the scroll and formed the hand signs for Kage Bunshin. A thousand Naruto's appeared and then transformed into beautiful naked women. Rai doubted the traitor even knew what hit him.

Iruka staggered to his feet, out of the tree line and stumbled. With two quick steps, Rai was by his side, preventing him from falling over. Mizuki was unconscious and Naruto was walking back to his two teachers. "I hope it was not you who taught him that." Iruka said weakly

"Nope, he learned that on his own." Rai responded after laughing. The non-shinobi pulled a syringe out of his coat. Before the other man could react, Rai stuck him with the needle and shoved the plunger down. The blue metallic liquid flowed into the wounded mans body causing him to itch everywhere.

"What the hell was that?!"

Naruto responded before Rai "Something to heal your wound, so shut up you big baby!"

Feeling much better, Iruka pulled away from the red coat's support, standing on his own. The now healed man reached back and touched the hole in his vest and the spot where the massive shuriken had hit him. The skin was smooth, as if there had been no wound at all.

"That was a neat trick. What was that stuff?"

"My little secret." Rai responded.

"And you gave Naruto some of this stuff?"

"For emergencies, yeah."

"And why not the rest of the world? Or just Konoha even."

"The villages would get a hold of it and use to make their shinobi heal faster. Chaos would spread and many more would die in the fighting than the medicine would save."

"So, if you can fight and know that all your wounds would heal, there would be a lot more fighting?"

"Exactly."

"Presents for the happy graduate!" Rai yelled, sick of the depressing subject. He reached down to his right leg and slipped his hand into a strap on his pants. The strap tightened around his hand. Once it was tight, he pulled up, taking a round device just large enough to fit his fingers around, out of the pocket it had been in. He pointed the slightly glowing panel where his palm now was, at the ground. His fingers pressed various buttons around the edge, each accompanied by a beep. With the same flash of light that allowed him to disappear and reappear anywhere he wanted, a case, about 5 feet long and 2 feet wide, was laying on the ground where there had been a flash of white light.

Rai picked up the box and opened it. Naruto was staring at the box, obviously wanting to see what was inside. Iruka, also curious but was hanging back, an amused expression on his face as he watched his student act like a man dying of thirst and the only water was in that case.

Rai pulled a Ninja-to out of the box of goodies and drew it from its sheath and handed it to Naruto. Grabbing the blonds' hands, he positioned the teen's fingers at various points on the sword. With a twist, the sword popped in half, becoming 2 ninja-to. "When they are separated, they are mono-blades. When they are together, they use vibration generators to produce the same amount of cutting power as a mono-blade. The blade is made out of the same alloy as my kukiri. Next, we have these." Rai reaches inside the case and pulls out a belt with two knives sheathed on it.

"The sword clips to this belt and draws power from the power cells with in the belt to power the self sharpener in the sheath. Every time you sheath that sword, it will become just as sharp as the day I made it. Now," Rai, with a flick of his thumb, pops one of the knives in to the air and catches it with his other hand. "These are also mono-blades. Let's see if you can figure out what else they are." As he finished that statement, he tossed the dagger at Naruto.

Naruto caught it then proceeded to look at it closely. After a moment, he tapped a spot on the hilt and the blade separated down the length and rings formed between the two halves. With a grin on his face, Naruto aimed at a tree and tapped a new spot on the weapon. A sharp crack sounded in the forest and a baseball sized chunk of the tree was gone. "You bumped up the power at the cost of the fire rate." Naruto said

"Very good. You can now fire 1.5 rounds per second as opposed to 2. But I doubled the power of the impact." Pleased with the young blond, the man in the red coat grabbed another item out of the box. It was another of the devices he was wearing on his hand. "Do I need to explain what this is?" Rai asked with a grin.

"Nope." Naruto responded, his face lighted like a Christmas tree

"What is it?" Iruka asked. Rai looked at Naruto, expecting him to explain.

"This is a Sonic/Electromagnetic Emitter. SEE for short. It can put out everything from sound waves to gamma radiation at very, very precise bandwidths. With this thing, I can do everything from boil water, freeze it, shatter glass and melt steel. Pretty much, anything you can think of."

"So, that is the thing that makes you appear and disappear?" Asked Iruka

"No. That allows me to communicate with the thing that allows me to disappear and reappear at will. Matter Emitting Subspace Transport. MEST for short. And how that thing works is so damn complex, I could sit here for the next month trying to explain it to you." He answered with an amused smile.

"Do you understand it, Naruto?"

"The basics. Beyond that though, no way."

"I guess that makes me feel better."

"And last but not least, a pack of Holo-Sonic emitters and a variety box of bullets."

Naruto picked up the packs of ten, disk shaped, HSEs. With a grin, he tossed one on the ground and put on the SEE. By pressing a few buttons he made an image on his sexy jutsu.

"Come and play with me, Iruka-sensei……." The blond woman cooed

"Quit that!" Iruka yelled back

"Fine, fine….." Naruto grumbled as he picked up the half-dollar sized disk.

"So you made all of this for him?"

"More or less, yeah. Anyway, I really must be going."

"Where?" Naruto asked

"Places to go, people to talk to, light bulbs to change and…….. Well, you know the rest."

"You are visiting, right?"

"Of course! But, you don't need me any more. Carve your own path in life."

And with that statement and a shrug, he was gone.

* * *

"Damn! Another lead down the drain! Alright, no use dwelling on it. Miaka, where the hell are you?"

"Dead? No way. Even a shinobi could not take her down. So where?"

"A city would be the best bet. Some place not too large, but with lots of people flowing through it. A trade city, maybe? Something to look into. Well, lets get to work.

* * *

A day past before the team assignments started. Naruto was there early, eagerly waiting too see whose team he was on. Iruka walked out on to the stage and began his announcements. Naruto just tuned him out, waiting till his name was called. When it was, Naruto was pleased. He could live with being on the same team with the teme. But getting Sakura? That was just awesome. Sauske and Sakura. The good and the bad.

After getting the location for meeting his sensei, Naruto went there and sat, after he placed a couple HSEs around the door. Then, he sat in one of the class rooms many chairs and waited. After a while, Sakura and Sauske arrived and took their own seats. The trio sat in silence for several hours. Finally, 3 hours later than he said he would be, Kakashi arrived. As soon as he walked through the door, He was swarmed by little imp-things, a bucket of water dumped on his head and a bucket of flour coated him. "Are you done, Naruto?"

"Nope." Maple syrup and eggs flew from out of nowhere to coat Kakashi. You could now feed a family breakfast with the amount of pancake batter that the man was covered with.

I'm gonna name this video "Breakfast Gone Bad!" Cackled Naruto. Sakura and Sauske just groaned.


	3. Chapter 3

"Nice to see he has moved up from graffiti to slightly less destructive pranks. I guess it is an improvement." Kakashi thought. "So. I am Hatake Kakshi. I'm going to be your teacher. What are your names, likes, dislikes and hobbies. You start." He spoke for the first time, ignoring the batter coating him with some effort.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto! I like Chocolate and Ramen. Not mixed, thank you. My dislikes are morons who can't see past their own noses. My dreams are to surpass the Hokage and my mentor. My hobbies are video games and comparing ramen brands."

"I'm Haruno Sakura. I like…………." A look at Sauske accompanied this statement. "I dislike Naruto and my hobbies are……………" This time the look was accompanied by a blush.

"I am Uchiha Sauske. I hate a lot of things and like very few things. My dreams are the revival of my clan and killing a certain man."

"Well, that was about as I expected." Kakashi thought "We are having a mission tomorrow."

"What kind of mission, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"One we can do together." Kakashi started laughing "You are going to be surprised at this! Out of the 27 graduates, only 9 are going to become genin. The rest get sent back to the academy."

"What?!" Sakura yelled. Sauske and Naruto stayed silent, Naruto's eyes closed and his forehead frowned in concentration.

"See! I told you would be surprised! The final exam just picks the ones to be able to take this test. You have to pass this one now. Meet me at the training grounds at 5 am! Have a nice day." And with that, he was gone.

The next morning, Naruto, Sakura and Sauske showed up at the training ground. Naruto just sat on the ground and closed his eyes. Sauske stood there silent as ever. Sakura eventually sat down. At noon, Kakashi finally arrived. "A black cat crossed my path so……………. Anyway, timer set for noon."

"The objective is to get these bells from me. Whoever does not have a bell gets no lunch."

"Fine. And what happens to the person with no bell?" Naruto asked

"They go back to the academy. And have to watch me eat while tied to the log over there."

"Good thing I come prepared then." The blond responded, laying back down and apparently going back to sleep.

"Start!" While the other two potential genin jumped and disappeared, Naruto was sleeping, his breathing peaceful.

With a shrug, the jonin just disappeared.

Standing with his back to the river, Kakashi waited for his students to show themselves. Naruto walked out of the tree line, his face contorted in a yawn. With a few slow and deliberate steps he came to stand in front of the jonin. "I guess we should get started." The blond charged the white haired man, a kunai in each hand.

Kakashi just stood there, his book open and his feet spaced for balance. Naruto threw the first kunai at a distance of ten feet. Kakashi sidestepped and prepared himself for the blonde's next attack. The knife exploded behind the jonin, causing a net to fly at him from behind. Naruto attacked with a round house kick to the legs. Kakashi jumped 10 feet in the air, dodging both attacks, then came down with an axe kick. However, Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Landing on the ground lightly, Kakashi looked around. No Naruto. With a flash of white light and a "Whoosh" sound, Naruto reappeared, behind the jonin. Backhand, block, knee to the gut, twist away transitioned into a roundhouse kick. When the round house kick connected with Naruto's side, Naruto went poof, the shadow clone dissipating. Three "cracks" sounded as soon as the clone disappeared. Years of experience were the only thing that saved the older man as he jumped to the side, dodging the three small metal projectiles that came from the tree line.

Not giving the jonin a chance to breath, Naruto came at him again, this time two clones from behind and him from the front. The white haired man was up the challenge as he kicked out behind him, destroying the first clone. Reversing the movement, he then blocked the real Naruto's kick. A flick of the jonin's wrist sent a kunai into the last clone. Naruto's hand reached out for the bells but came up short, his fingers just barley brushing the bells. Kakashi threw him a dozen feet in the air and 50 feet away. He tumbled to the ground and laid there for several seconds before disappearing.

The jonin now moved away from the river, heading out into the forest. Running across Sakura, he knocked her out using Genjutsu. Moving on to Sauske, they stopped as soon they saw each other.

"I'm different from those two."

"Say that after you get the bell."

Four kunai flew at the older ninja. Dodging was simple, though the next salvo of knives was a bit harder. Sauske flickered into the space just to the right of Kakashi, attacking him with a kick to the head. Block, Punch, catch, kick and block. Just as the momentum of the assault was waning, the prodigy made his grab for the bell. And came up just as short as the troublemaker.

The twelve year old and the 30 year old flew apart, thirty feet separating them in an instant. As the future genin tried to find his future sensei, Kakashi attacked him from below. After a moment, Sasuke's head was the only part of him that was visible.

"Hey sensei! Over here!" Naruto called. Kakashi looked to the grinning blond. Naruto was standing 20 feet away, with his Ninja-to held in a two handed grip in front of him. As soon as Kakashi looked at him, four shots rang out, the bullets coming from the tree line. Kakashi jumped to the side, but the bullets were not aimed at him. The four shots hit the dirt around Sauske, the small explosive charges busting up the dirt, allowing the raven haired youth to jump free. The blond was already on the attack, slicing the air in front of his teacher, just missing his face. Sauske attacked from behind, a mid-air round house kick that was blocked by the jonin's arm.

Three more shots came from the tree line, this time aiming for Kakashi's torso. The jonin's skills were up to the task as he twisted in mid air to avoid the projectiles. With a metallic clank, the bullets stuck to each other, pulling the wires that connected them back to the source and pinning the masked man's right arm to his chest. With that arm now disabled, Naruto and Sauske pressed the attack, a sword thrust low and a punch high. Kakashi's left arm blocked the punch and he jumped into the air, avoiding the sword. He kicked Naruto in the face, only to have his foot pass right through the youths grinning face. The image of Naruto disappeared, having never been there in the first place.

More bullets from the tree line accompanied this time by four Narutos, each armed with a kunai in each hand. Kakashi dodged the bullets and the raven's kick, only to have a fifth Naruto come at him from behind, trying to slash his stomach open. The jonin kicked him in the face and Naruto turned into a cloud of smoke. However, it became quite apparent that the sword was not intended to cut the copy nin, as the wires snapped, severed by the sword. Instead of falling to the ground, freeing Kakashi, the wires instead wrapped further around him, pining his other arm to his chest. With both arms now disabled and caught between four clones and Sauske, the jonin retreated, disappearing in a blur.

"So close." Naruto said, walking from the tree line. "Nice work with those holograms, Sakura. You did a great job keeping him busy."

"Thank you." The young girl said, walking out of the trees. She was wearing black bands at each on her joints. "These bands are cool. The images did what ever I did. Where did you get these?"

"I made them. With the kind of facilities my mentor has, it was simple. It took me a week to perfect the devices and another two weeks to program the HSEs to respond like they needed to." Naruto shrugged "I'm just sad he got away."

"Who asked you to interfere?!" Sauske was pissed. How dare they interrupt his battle? He did not need them.

"You did not seem to have a problem when I broke you out of the hole. Nor did you have a problem flanking him while we attacked him from other angles. So shove it. You can't have it both ways, either we are a team or not. Make up your mind quick, because we have 2 hours till the bell rings. And it is gonna take an hour just to find Kakashi. That leaves 1 hour to get those bells and you are burning that time away with this uptight attitude." Naruto finished talking, his arms on his hips and his face stern and serious.

"Fine, dobe. Let's find him." Sauske said after a moment. He disappeared to go look for their future sensei.

"Naruto! Don't talk to Sauske like that!" Sakura yelled at him

Naruto just ignored her, taking out the SEE and making a hologram of the training field. A line traveled across the image, back and forth. Obviously that method was not working, so he put the device away and turned to Sakura. "We have two hours. Better get started." And he was gone, the HSEs hiding him from sight and sound.

Despite searching the entire training area, Kakashi continued to elude them. Finally, the bell rang and the three future genin all went back to the starting area. Kakashi appeared in front of them and said "Well, that was exciting. But you can have one more chance." Before he could explain what that chance might be, Naruto was moving, five shadow clones behind him, and four in front of him. Sasuke was gone from where he was standing a second before and reappeared behind the jonin. An elbow just barely hit the back of Kakashi's head, knocking him forward. The four clones of Naruto came at him, 2 punching down from the air, one kicking for the older man's stomach and the fourth sweeping his legs. Kakashi side stepped the high attacks and caught the middle's kick, throwing the two clones into one another.

He then glanced at the clock out of the corner of his eye. It still had two minuets left! Somehow, they had made a sound so close to that of the alarm going off that the jonin had come out of hiding. And he had fallen for it. He brought his attention back to the fight, only to find that all four Narutos were gone. Sauske attacked again, this time from the front, kicking for Kakashi's head. Block, roundhouse, catch, punch, catch, and once again, the jonin kicked Sauske in the gut. But this time, his foot passed right through the boy, sending him off balance. The distinctive "Whoosh" noise caused by Naruto's transporter came from behind him. Sauske was there, this time with a side kick. It hit Kakashi in the back, sending him tumbling to the ground. Four kunai flew from the trees, hitting the trees at the opposite end. Sauske was not slowed at all by the knives as he axe kicked Kakashi. The jonin jumped back, dodging the strike, and jumped back again, putting some distance between himself and Sauske. His back now to the three logs, two of those logs disappeared as if they were not there in the first place. They reappeared, this time on both sides of the jonin. Kakashi noticed the glint of wire attached to the kunai stuck in the trees. Bullets came out of the forest, dragging the other end of said wire along with them. The wire hit the logs and the inertia of the bullets carried it around and around, forcing the logs together, trapping the jonin in between, with the wire wrapping him up. He disappeared, replaced by a third log. The wire rapped around and around, forcing the three logs into a tight bundle.

"Too late." Came the jonin's voice as the alarm went off.

"As I was saying, you all have one more chance." In a flash, he had Sakura tied to the remaining log. "I will be back soon. You two can eat lunch but you are not to feed her. Got it?"

"Yes." They both responded

Kakashi disappeared in a blur, leaving the three genin behind. Immediately, Naruto turned around and tore open one of the lunches. He picked up a piece of meat and put it in Sakura's face. "Eat it." He said

"But he said not to………….."

"I don't care want he said. If he told you to take a flying leap into the sun, would you?"

Sakura did not know just how hot the surface of the sun was but the blonde's point was obvious. "No….. But…………."

"So eat."

Finally, she gave in. As soon as she took her first bite, the jonin reappeared and shouted "You!!!!!!!!!!! PASS!!!!!!!!!!!"


	4. Chapter 4

The new team 7 did several D rank missions before being called to the Hokage's office.

Team 7 was silent as they walked into their leader's office. "Can we get a challenging mission now, Gramps?" Naruto asked when they were all inside.

"Have some more respect for the Hokage, Naruto." Sakura said. Naruto ignored her.

"What makes you think you are ready for a tougher mission, brat?"

"I want to prove that I can do it. The only way to do that is to complete a mission."

"Well, to bad. You're not ready."

"Bullshit. There is only one way to find that out and we obviously have not been on a mission yet."

"Fine. Anbu, send the client in." The old man was scowling at Naruto, who seemed not to care.

A man with unruly brown hair and brown eyes walked in the door, carrying a sake bottle. "These kids are going to protect me?!"

Naruto chuckled "Shut up before I beam your ass into orbit. Depending on how much I fine tune the calculations, I could keep you up there for 100 years without lifting a finger. Not that you would live that long with that kind of cold and no air to breath."

"I assure you, they can do the job. Team 7, you leave in two hours. This is a C-rank mission. Dismissed."

The group gathered at the gate to the village and waited for Kakashi to show up. 3 hours later, the jonin finally appeared. They walked out of the village, heads held high.

Rai walked through the crowd, watching those that passed him by. "Ok, there is one directly behind me, and that couple over there to my right is probably with the Sound as well." The Sound. Sworn enemy of Konoha and, by extension, Naruto. And by extension, Rai. "So be it. Their speed makes it so I can't out run them. And the transporter needs another twenty minutes to charge. I'll just have to fight. First, we chose the battle field. Second, we prepare it." The city he was in was fair sized, two hundred thousand people. That was fair sized for his home land. It was well and truly massive for this world. A center of trade with in Tsuchi no Kuni. It's proximity to Iwa simply made it even more valuable, for its perceived safety. Never mind that if another country invaded, this city, it was called "Finger of Stone" by the inhabitants would be in the path of the invasion. Proximity to one of the five great villages had its draw backs.

"That cliff outside the city would be the best spot, but I doubt they will leave me alone for that long. There is that warehouse full of unprocessed ore, which could be useful. Fine, that is where I will make my stand. Make a hologram of my self as a decoy and head that way. Should buy me a couple of minutes." The warehouse was on the outskirts of the city, a run down and beat up building with doors on either end to pull metal carts into. The carts were then pulled into the city by oxen, one by one, to be smelted and refined in the city's refineries. The metal was used to make Kunai and other weapons as well as other things for the people. Wheels and axles for carts and farming tools were both made here. The people of the city then distributed the items throughout the world.

Rai thought the metal carts and rocks within those carts would make an excellent bang. Complete with a bunch of ready made projectiles and a metal skin to focus the blast along with said projectiles. It should be fun and flashy. One was good but getting both was better.

A couple of minutes later, he allowed the hologram to pass right through a random person and give away the fact that the sound-nin had been chasing an illusion. A couple of minutes of frantic searching later, only confirming that they were indeed after him, he created another hologram and set it going to the warehouse. Fifteen minutes till he could use the transporter and it was a five minute walk to the warehouse. The building exploding kill/wound all of the enemies. He had spotted three enemies but there was likely more, especially if Orochimaru was as smart as he was said to be.

Ten minutes and counting and they just arrived. There were six shadows approaching the warehouse. A normal person would have missed them entirely. The Lowlight cameras Rai had set up, combined with the computer program detecting changes from one image to the next, alerted Rai to their presence with a lot of time to spare. "The explosives are set, carts are in place and we're ready to rumble." Rai thought with a vicious grin. "Just wait till they are all in range and then hit the big red button."

The six sound ninja surrounded the building, two of them jumping on to the roof and entering through the windows and the other four splitting into two groups, each taking a door. A few moments of silence reigned as they moved into position. And then, silent as could be, they moved into the building, searching it thoroughly, top to bottom. And then he hit the button.

Each cart was five feet wide and eight feet long with almost a ton of metal ore, usually in baseball size or smaller chunks. Rai had buried four pounds of C4 at the bottom of each cart and tipped a few over, so they faced outward, creating a shell of claymore mines. (AN: If you do not know what a claymore is, look it up on Wikipedia.) The explosion would be a perfect hemisphere, shredding everything within one hundred yards of the building and maiming anything within three hundred. The shinobi were well within that range. Rai had buried himself ten feet under ground, with one of the metal carts providing additional armor from the explosion about to occur. He had over 20 minutes of air, some natural, some in a tank, a recon drone ready to fly out and see who was still standing and a antenna to get his radio signal to the surface. He hit the red button.

The shinobi did not feel a thing. There was not enough left of them to feel anything. For Rai, it was like getting locked in a coffin and then sent through an F5 hurricane. The analogy was not that far off. His shelter well built, he survived with a massive head ache and a loud ringing in his ears. Ten minutes later, he beamed himself out of his coffin and back to his house. The town's people never could figure out what went wrong.

"What are we doing here, Miaka-san?"

"This explosion has Rai's handwriting all over it. I want to see if I am right, Sasori." The hunched over man just grunted, his face covered by a torn piece of cloth and the metal tail twitching a bit in annoyance. The woman walking beside him wore standard Akatsuki robes but with a slit down the center, making it open at the front and more of a cloak than a robe. Underneath, she wore a kimono, cream white with a blue sash tied around her waist. She had striking blue hair, slightly darker than the sash and light blue eyes.

The two arrived at the warehouse, Sasori hanging back and watching her, his puppets eyes expressionless. The woman survived the area, her gaze going left to right then back. She walked over to a twisted piece of metal and picked it up. With her other hand, she scooped up some soil, letting it run through her fingers. Even with her voice quiet and the distance separating them, the puppet ninja could hear every word she said. "This is a lowlight camera of his design. The soil contains trace residue of C4 explosives. The blast pattern indicates several smaller blasts, probably in what is left of these metal carts; he was using the ore pieces as projectiles." She said it all with out pausing, still studying the area. She walked over to what Sasori could tell was the center of the building, her face still expressionless. This spot was strangely undisturbed when compared to the rest of the area.

Miaka reached into her kimono's sleeve and pulled out a shovel that should not have fit in there. With out pausing, she started to dig, her body moving as a blur. In less than a minute, she was down to ten feet, her shovel hitting metal with a loud, echoing clang. She widened the hole in another minute, allowing her and her companion to see that is was a buried cart, like the ones from above. With a loud bang, she drove her fist through the metal and tore a gaping hole in it with a flick of her wrist. There was a small area, enough for two people if they crammed, in there. But there was no one present. Who ever was in there was long gone. There was only a little blinking red light, hidden deep in the darkness.

"Alright, we can go now." Miaka said, her voice never breaking from the mono tone. She jumped out of the hole, ten feet straight up and landed lightly on her feet, barely bending her knees to absorb the impact.

"Did you find something worth while?"

"Maybe. But it won't help me now. I don't think he was watching and even if he was, is will be awhile before he can respond." The young looking woman replied. "So, we continue with our mission."

"Now I at least have a clue as to how you managed to steal Orochimaru's ring back and join us."

"Really, I've had worse job interviews. There was one man who wanted us to steal something from the Oval Office without the Secret Service realizing it was gone. It took us a little while to figure out how to do that one."

"Did you succeed?" The hunched over man did not ask what the Oval Office was. But if it was harder to steal from than the Snake Sannin, it should be a dangerous place.

"Sure. It was just a pain in the ass. The tricky part was not getting the item it self but making sure the guards never learned it was gone. Ever." This statement elicited a small smile, barely turning the edges of her mouth up.

"Why not just photocopy the damn pages, I will never know. But he insisted it had to be the original copy of the briefing, so we grabbed it." She shrugged a bit at this, the smile now gone.


	5. Chapter 5

The four shinobi and one civilian walked in silence as they made their way to Wave country. They walked right past a puddle, Naruto paying more attention to the path ahead. Kakashi noted that Naruto was paying more attention to where they were going and that he was purposely ignoring the puddle. Naruto did the hand sign for Kage Bunshin but no clone appeared. A few seconds later, a man came out of the puddle and threw another person at Kakashi. A razor sharp chain connected them and the two enemy ninja wrapped the chain around Kakashi, seemingly shredding him.

Naruto jumped far into the air, drawing his Ninja-to, split it into two separate swords and slammed those swords, point first, into the ground, the chain pinned underneath. With their chain now pinned to the ground in two places, Sasuke attacked the brothers, slamming one in the face and throwing a kunai at the other. He dodged the knife, only to find Naruto in his face. The blond slammed the brown haired man into the ground, his foot on top of the mans' head. He stomped twice, until the man stopped moving. Kakashi came back then, to find Sasuke dancing around the partially pinned man and Naruto drawing his knives to shoot the only standing opponent.

Kakashi quickly crossed the distance between him and the enemy and then promptly slammed him in the chest, only to reappear behind him, kunai at his neck. A quick blow to the back of the head and he joined his brother in unconsciousness.

"Nice work, Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi said, his one visible eye turning into a bad impression of a U.

"Thanks, Sensei." Naruto responded after ripping his swords out of the ground.

Sasuke said nothing, paying more attention to their client, who was cowering behind Sakura. Kakashi, the two enemy nin still on his shoulder, walked over to the pair, his eye watching the older man closely. "This is surely above a C-rank mission as there are Shinobi after you. We must return to the village and get new orders."

"No. I said I was going to do this and I will do this, underpaid or not. You three can go back to the village, but I am continuing on." Naruto said firmly, his hands on his hips.

"Sasuke, Sakura, what do you think?"

"We agreed to do it. We should do it." Sakura said, more serious than usual.

All he got out of Sasuke was "Hn" and a dead stare.

"Fine, we will continue. But first, Tazuna must tell use everything."

"Sounds good to me." Naruto replied with a shrug.

After the additional information, The five got up and continued on their way to Wave.

* * *

In a flash of white light, Rai appeared in Sarutobi's office, much to the displeasure of the old Hokage. Four ANBU appeared and tried to attack him but promptly disappeared in flashes of their own.

"I trust you will return my ANBU when we are done talking?" The Hokage asked.

"Oh, yes. They will be back." Rai waved his hand, dismissing the notion. "You former pupil attacked me. Or rather, his henchmen did."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. What did Orochimaru want with this unusual man? "Why."

"Honestly, I have no idea. But six Sound nin are nothing but vapor right now. And I have been keeping tabs on his movements, up until a month ago, when all his forces simply up and vanished. I can't find them, and before you ask, that worries me more than a little. I would watch your self. Something big is going down and soon."

His neck hair rising, never a good sign, The Third Hokage thought the same thing. And with his former pupil's hate of Konoha, this would not be good for the village. "The chunin exams are getting closer. He will most likely strike then, when he can slip in some undercover agents."

"It's what I would do. He won't be able to sneak an army into the village, just a few Jonin and some Genin. I don't know how much good that will do him. Though he might try to slip some past you posing as civilians. But either way, he will have to have a large amount of forces on the outside. I can't really help with screening the crowds, though I can warn you when the army arrives. That many men will be something I could not miss with my eyes closed. I can give you about an hour worth of warning. I just hope that will be enough."

"Unless there are three or more villages at our gates, that should be more than enough to turn the tide. To what do I owe your change of heart about this village."

"I've always liked this village more than the others. And Naruto will be pissed at me if I let harm come to it. He still loves this place; even after all they have done to him. I would not have blamed him one bit if he had asked me to burn it to the ground. Hell, I might have even done it for him. But that kid has a heart of gold and the brain to match. He has already forgiven this place."

"He truly is his father's son."

"That he is, that he is. When your old student comes knocking, I will be here to fight with you. Please tell your men I'm not the enemy." With that statement and a small smile, he left the same way he came and four very confused ANBU appeared in his place.

(AN: A lot has happened in the last two months, which is why this is so late and short. I will try and have the next one out some time in late April. Until then, have a nice life.)


	6. Chapter 6

"Walking, walking, and always walking! Why can't we fly or swim or do something besides walk!" Naruto had been grumbling about this for the past ten minutes and Sasuke was about ready to beat him to death. But he did not, because he recognized the whining for what it was. A distraction to the enemy. It had been nearly two days since the Demon Brothers attacked. That was plenty of time for someone else to track them down. He had not seen anyone, but Naruto had seen the brothers before they attacked. So, why not see who ever was following them now? Thus, Sasuke was paying extra attention to the trees around them, waiting for whoever was out there to show themselves.

And show themselves, they did. A massive sword came spinning out of the trees, at the group. Naruto tackled Tazuna and they both hit the ground along with the rest of the team. The sword slammed into a tree, sticking in it. A man jumped from where the sword came from, onto the handle, standing on it easily.

"Jackass. I'll teach you to throw things at me." Naruto growled after picking a piece of grass out of his hair and standing up.

"Ah, so you are the hidden mist's missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi. Nice to meet you." Kakashi said, his voice never leaving the bored tone.

"And you are Konoha's Copy nin, Kakashi of the Sharingan. The man who copied over 1000 jutsu." Zabuza replied, his voice sending shivers up the genins' spines.

"Anybody going to tell me what the Sharingan is, or do I have to go all the way back to the Konoha library to look it up?" Sakura asked

"It is an eye technique the Uchiha are born with. It can copy jutsu, see through Genjutsu and a few other things. It is a pretty nice skill to have. But how does Kakashi-sensei have it? His family name is Hatake, not Uchiha." Naruto replied, much to Sasuke's surprise.

If Kakashi heard the question, he did not show it. "You three stay back. He is on a whole different level from you."

"Fine. Just hurry. I want to get this mission done." Naruto said after taking his position guarding Tazuna.

Zabuza grabbed his sword, jumped and landed on the water of the pond in front of the group. He made two one handed hand signs, and drew water out of the pond into a mist, obscuring the view of him and Kakashi.

Killing intent flowed in between the two jonin, freezing the genin in place. Then the missing nin made his move, appearing in the center of the group. The genin and their charge scattered as Kakashi stabbed him with a kunai, reducing the Mizu Bunshin back to the water from whence it came. Another Bunshin came out and sliced the copy nin in half, only to find out that Kakashi had copied him and was waiting for that move. Faster than the genins' eyes could track, he was behind Zabuza, a kunai to his throat.

"Now, this is over. Don't move."

"No, it is not." Kakashi stabbed him, only to have it turn into water. Zabuza appeared behind him, already slashing with the sword. Kakashi ducked the swing, only to find out that was not the missing nin's plan in the first place. Shifting his grip on his sword, the mist shinobi kicked out, slamming the Konoha nin in the chest, sending him flying. Zabuza tried to follow, only to find spikes coming out of the ground.

"Foolish. Those spikes are not going to slow me down." He matched actions to words as he jumped the spikes, standing on the water. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!" Kakashi was trapped in a globe of water as strong as steel with no way out.

"So much for the great Kakashi. I'll deal with you in a moment. First I need to deal with your little friends. Water Clone Jutsu." Another clone appeared and the mist thickened. The clone attacked Naruto, only to find that Naruto was ready. Three sword slashes later, the clone was nothing but water. A humming sound came from Naruto's position. Slowly, the mist began to lift.

"What are you doing brat?"

"Water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Your chakra can only control it if those parts are combined. I just ripped them apart. If you think I'm just going to lay down and die cause you have my teacher trapped, you don't know me very well." Naruto was standing there, one hand closed around his sword, the other around the SEE. "This thing on my hand is called a Sonic/Electromagnetic Emitter. I just used it to create an electrical field to split the atoms in the water apart."

"Well, maybe you are worth something after all. Let us see just how much you can do." Three more water clones appeared, preparing to charge the genin.

"Take Tazuna and run! His clones can't go very far from his real body and he is using his power to keep me here. If you run, you can get away!" Kakashi said.

"Hell no. Nothing is Impossible. No one is Invincible. And no one is immortal. I will not leave you here to die, sensei. NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN." Naruto charged the clones. The first one swiped at him with the sword, only to find out that Naruto was much faster than he looked. He jumped the blade and took the clone's head off with a single swipe. Sasuke intercepted the next one, putting a kunai in it's gut before ducking a swipe from the third. Two of Naruto's clones jumped out of the trees, landing on the remaining Bunshin. The clone threw them of, causing them both to poof, but the blond was ready for that and cut the copy in half after the smoke dissipated.

"You two aren't bad. But you really need to remember. A ninja looks underneath the underneath." Another Bunshin came up behind Sakura and Tazuna. It slashed, cutting both kunoichi and builder in half. Sakura appeared behind it and stab it in the back, causing it to disappear.

"Ooops. Next time, Take your own advice." The pinket said with a grin.

"Where did you take the old man?!"

"I'm right here. And here. And here. And here!" A bunch of Naruto's Shadow Clones, henged into Tazuna, came out of the tree line. And promptly ran off, each in it's own direction.

"Annoying brats!"

"Funny. That is exactly what Rai said the last time we spared. Right before he wiped out over 100 of my shadow clones in a single move. And now for the awesome part." Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he made the hand sign for Henge. Kakashi, still trapped in the bubble, turned into Naruto.

Zabuza forced the water in on itself, causing the clone to go poof and the prison to dissipate. Kakashi arrived then, right next to Sasuke.

Three Bo Needles came from the tree line, to hit Zabuza's neck. He collapsed and was caught by another person wearing a mask with a swirl pattern on it.

"I am a Hidden Mist Hunter Nin. I am taking him back to the village."

"What is a hunter nin?" Naruto asked

"Something you don't know, huh, dobe?"

"There is always something I don't know, teme. Now answer the damn question."

"They are assassins that track down traitors and missing nins to make sure they don't give away the villages secrets." Sakura answered before the Uchiha could.

"Guess you are not as smart as you make your self out to be, Sasuke. Thank you Sakura."

"Alright, you can take him." Kakashi answered the Hunter Nin.

"Thank you." He picked up the unconscious form of the missing nin and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "Naruto, where is Tazuna?"

Naruto just grinned and made another hand sign. Sakura pressed a button on her wrist and Tazuna appeared right next to her. She then disappeared in a poof of smoke, and the real Sakura came out of the tree line, a grin on her face almost as big as the blonde's.

"So, just so I understand this right, Sakura was a clone, you two had several Tazuna's running around, which were all clones, the real Tazuna was right under his nose the entire time, hidden by a genjutsu and you used that teleportation trick on me the second I went underwater, then replaced me with a Shadow Clone."

Naruto waited several seconds before responding. "Not quite. The Tazuna you see here is in fact, another decoy." The Tazuna standing behind Sakura turned into Naruto and then dissipated. "The real Tazuna is in his house in Wave with Sasuke. I beamed them both there after you got kicked and he was paying attention to you. I then replaced them both with shadow clones." Sasuke gave Kakashi a very un-Sasuke like grin before disappearing. "Sorry for deceiving you but I had to make sure he was really gone before giving up the fact that his true objective was never here. We would not want him going after the bridge builder with just the teme there to guard him, now would we?"

Kakashi just shook his head in amazement. "You and me are going to have a nice long talk when we get to Wave. I need to know just what my team is capable of. And there seems to be a lot I don't know."

"Sure, Sure. Now, I am very sick of the boring walking routine. Not that I mind the exercise, but I get very bored doing the same thing for hour after hour after hour. So, I'm going to speed this up a bit." He pulled the SEE off of his pant leg and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, they were standing in front of Tazuna's house, with Sasuke standing there waiting for them.

"Nice of you to join me, dobe. Glad things went as planned." He then turned around and walked back inside, leaving Kakashi wondering just how much of Naruto's plan was improvised and how much was an actual plan. His young student was full of surprises.


End file.
